Understandably overshadowed by the following episode, Second Sons is nevertheless a great hour of television despite its wedding scene featuring zero deaths. It may be the calm before the storm of swords, but on a show as turbulent as this, even the calms can tear the roof off your house. The aforementioned wedding of Tyrion and Sansa Stark is the centerpiece of the episode, providing the funniest and most heartbreaking moments. Tyrion threatening to castrate his sadistic nephew King Joffrey is a darkly humorous way of showing just how cornered and vulnerable the Imp felt about being forced into marrying a young hostage girl. And yet again, Tyrion proves that hes the most decent Lannister by refusing to bed Sansa, as he knows the poor girls been through enough. Though really, she could do a lot worse than the handsome Peter Dinklage. Meanwhile, Dany continues to develop as one of the most powerful women on television, and she didnt even need her dragons this time. She stands defiantly nude before mercenary Daario to prove she fears nothing, although by this point she has nothing left to prove to anyone. But the bravest moment of the episode comes courtesy of Samwell Tarly, who goes from coward to slayer with the thrust of a dragonglass dagger. He becomes the first person to kill an Other (White Walker) in centuries, and his act of courage to save someone he cares about demonstrates that theres some hope left in this bleak, vicious world.
J.D. Laney is an aspiring novelist and screenwriter from Cleveland, Ohio. When he isn't trying to write his own material, he is constantly consuming the work of others for analysis and, occasionally, for fun. He has a particular interest in film, literature, and video games.
